


One More Time

by CarouselUnique



Category: That '70s Show
Genre: Accompanying Illustrations, F/M, Gen, Next Generation, One of those Jackie/Hyde Time Travel Fanfics: With a Twist!, Other, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24478174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarouselUnique/pseuds/CarouselUnique
Summary: Jessie Forman thought she knew a lot of things; who she could trust, who her parents were, even what was possible in the world around her. One snowy night, all three of these things change. Now, stuck back around 1978 - she’s left in the worst situation possible to figure out where to go from there.
Relationships: Eric Forman/Donna Pinciotti, Jackie Burkhart/Eric Forman, Jackie Burkhart/Steven Hyde
Comments: 21
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place as an alternate story direction in the JessieVerse, where Jessie was raised as the child of Jackie and Eric when biologically she belongs to Jackie and Hyde. Definitely should’ve written what happens there first, except, well, I’ve read a lot of time travel fanfic for Jackie/Hyde and figured it’d be fun to write one for Jessie! Just as an overview of the general information:
> 
> \- Jackie and Eric started hooking up around September 1979 after Samantha left and Jackie had a one-night stand with Hyde. 
> 
> \- They thought they had conceived Jessie (15) together up to when she was born and it became clear Hyde was her biological father, and they just decided to keep raising her as theirs. 
> 
> \- Hyde knew she was his kid and spent a while trying to clean up his act so he could be in her life, but knew he wasn’t father material and by the time he could have been, Jessie was already well-adjusted to Eric being her father so he settled for being “Uncle Hyde”
> 
> \- Lucas and Diana (13) are the twins of Jackie and Eric, had when they were married. 
> 
> \- Jackie and Hyde got back together around 1985 and at this point have had Reggie (9), Dylan (6) and Sophie (1)
> 
> \- Hyde calls Jessie 'Kit' because her of middle name: Jessica Katherine Forman
> 
> \- 'Ghost' is the Hyde family car 'The Ghost of the El Camino', the next car after he sold the El Camino.

_“So… I guess you know that I’m your Father.”_

_-_

Jessie let out an angry breath, the cold air billowing around her cheeks as she trudged her way through the snow to the bus station. Icy air dried her tear tracks and left them stinging. She held her coat closer to herself trying to keep warm and hoping warmth would mean she would stop remembering why she was braving Point Place winter weather alone to begin with. 

She could hear Uncle Hyde... her father... inside her head and the memory began playing despite insistence that it not. It made her ears hurt, or maybe it was the cold.

_-_

_Despite figuring out the truth and keeping it for months to herself, it didn’t take something big for it to come out. She just wanted to leave the house for a while, the family vibe bringing her mood way down. So she and Betsy volunteered to pick something up from the store together for dessert._

_She just wanted a moment to breathe, maybe talk this through with her best friend… no one had a car they were willing to lend the two amateur drivers... and then Betsy asked Uncle Hyde to lend them Ghost before Jessie could stop her. He had insisted that it wasn’t safe driving for her and sounded so much ‘the concerned father’ that the words just slipped out of her angry mouth before she could take them back._

_“You’re not my Dad!”_

_... you could suddenly hear a pin drop through the silence. Maybe her words could have been passed off as a normal tantrum a teenage girl had at her stepfather until Uncle Hyde responded knowingly,_

_“So… I guess you know that I’m your Father.”_

_She heard her Mom choke out a gasp and out of the corner of her eye she could see her with her hand over her mouth and standing next to her Dad... was he her Dad any more even…? He looked more furious than he had ever seen him before. She just looked nauseous and horrified. She waited a long heartbeat to see if they said anything... secretly she hoped they’d call him crazy, maybe kick him out in the snow or something until he stopped saying things that weren’t true._

_She could see it now, the loving reassurances from her parents - her_ **_real_ ** _parents: Jackie Hyde and Eric Forman - that it was just a Burn, a prank that was meant to show her how lucky she was that nothing like that would ever actually happen. Uncle Hyde would come back from outside and confirm it was the truth then they could go back to the close Stepfather - Stepdaughter relationship they’d had for as long as she could remember and nothing would have to change._

_Anything to keep the life she had always known._

_It was a stupid hope, neither looked like they could even speak... If she had any doubts left that what she found out was true, they died at that._

-

Jessie shivered at a gust of wind that nearly knocked her off her feet, and yet it didn’t feel nearly as bad as the way the certainty settling into her system did. She hadn’t realized back then how much she had wanted to be ridiculous and wrong until she was right. 

_-_

_“You don’t sound surprised...” she had said absently, then realized something and her voice became more focused as she realized the implications of what she just said, **“... Why don’t you sound surprised?”** _

_Her whole body felt numb except for her prickling fingertips and her hot throat as she waited for his response. She had never felt this way before._

_“Because I’m not. You’re not a good liar Kit, I knew you were mad at me and I had an idea why.” His tone was Zen at that moment, the picture of control - control she didn’t have right now - she felt her heartbeat like a ticking time bomb inside her chest._

_“How long did you have an idea about why I was mad?” He didn’t get to be calm when her life was falling apart..._

_“... When you stopped taking rides to school and to Point Place in the car.”_

_She thought back to the last time she had rode inside Ghost from the Forman house with her siblings. She remembered giving front seat privileges to Diana because sitting with Lucas in the back was the easiest way to be sure no one talked to her. She remembered seeing his eyes glancing back at her from the rear view. She remembered being so afraid of confirming her suspicions so she started taking the bus everywhere so she wouldn’t have to be alone with him._

_She also remembered that her decision to stop riding around with him was four months ago._

_“Then **WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY ANYTHING?”** Her question came out as a scream and suddenly there was the faint sound of baby Sophie crying as the scream woke her from her nap. Mom twitched back to life at the sound and then Grandma responded to the sound before anyone else could, casting a sympathetic look to her before leaving the room. _

_“Why didn’t you talk to any of us?” He had countered, and it felt like he was blaming her for this, for being angry when she could have just talked to them which only made her feel more anger..._ _she wasn’t the one who lied for fifteen years..._

**_-_ **

She went up to the ticket counter then, being shaken out of the memory by necessity. She just wanted to go home, or what passed for home. She wanted to get on the next bus to Milwaukee, walk back to the house and warm up inside her bed. If she was lucky they would just celebrate their holidays without her, then when school started she could go back to ignoring them. She rested her cold hands on the colder counter, it was a second before her eyes could focus on the sign in the window.

“Closed for a shift change… crap.” she winced, drumming her fingers lightly against the metal - which wasn’t a pleasant feeling right now. She could kick herself for leaving without gloves. Her backpack was heavy on her back, filled up with a holiday visit's worth of stuff and suddenly realized how late it was and how long she'd walked.

How long would she have to wait... Jessie braced her shoulders with determination not to falter and with a yawn that made a cloud in the cold air, moved to sit on a nearby bench, shifting herself so the least amount of contact with the icy metal was possible. Once she was settled, the memory continued, a bit further than when it left off. It was so hard to focus on anything in this cold...

-

 _“How could you stand to face me and be my Uncle Hyde and my Stepdad knowing you didn’t want to be my_ **_real_ ** _Dad?” She remembered asking, her hurt, confusion and fury echoing through the entire room. She could feel Betsy trying to grasp her for a hug of some kind and she ordinarily wouldn’t refuse comfort from her Honeybee but she shrugged the taller girl off and pointed a finger into his chest instead, “Was that just too much for you? Was I just too much for you?”_

_Her chest was heavy and she let out an involuntary sob before furiously wiping her eyes. She spent her whole life thinking they were close but apparently that wasn’t true for him… maybe the only reason he had a relationship with her was so he could be with Mom._

_That seemed to break Uncle Hyde out of his Zen and he tried to say something at that moment. Before he could though, Jessie whipped around and her anger landed on her alleged parents. She felt venom toward her Mom and stormed up, exclaiming, “And you! You didn’t just lie to me, you lied to US!”_

_She gestured wildly to where she remembered Lucas and Diana being - her closest siblings - or half-siblings now, she guessed. That made her even more hurt, the idea that she and her siblings were just the consequence of her mother and her real father screwing around until they found their happily ever after, “Did you even want any of us?”_

-

Jessie shivered and curled in on herself as minutes turned into what felt like hours. She didn’t want to remember this... it was so cold and she had to wait so much longer for the bus ticket. She rubbed her hands together - which did nothing except remind her of how little she could feel - and blew into them. She was so tired all of a sudden... yelling at everyone she loved, storming off into the snow and walking... God knows how far... to the bus station would do that, she supposed. She closed her eyes, her eyelashes clumped together from crying and weakly breathed in and out. Maybe a nap would turn off the memory before it...

-

 _She turned to Eric and her anger melted away into desperate pleading for a moment, “Daddy please..._ **_Please_ ** _tell me you didn’t know. I don’t want to be mad at you. Just give me a reason not to Dad! **Please!** ”_

_He swallowed and shifted uncomfortably and she felt so much like a little girl in that moment just waiting for a grown up to tell her things were going to be okay. But she wasn’t a little girl and he wasn’t telling her things were going to be okay - not the way she wanted - and she steeled herself, her face settling into a cold determination not to stay here. “... Fine.”_

_“Jessie! Hey wait!”_

_-_

She didn’t know what was happening. There was a burning white light behind her eyelids all of a sudden and try as she might to keep her eyes closed against the cold, suddenly it wasn’t cold any more. In fact, she felt more hot, which was strange. Between that and the distant voices she could hear, she had no reason not to open her eyes... maybe the ticket counter was open now. 

Her eyes opened to see morning sunshine rather than a dark, snowy sky. She wasn’t on a bus station bench in the dead of winter either, instead laying on the hot summer pavement of the garage she could have sworn she stomped away from hours ago and with three familiar faces staring down at her. 

Except… they weren’t so familiar right now... 

… they looked different. 

_Grandpa..._ “What the Hell? Was this one always here or did we become even more of a Dumbass magnet overnight?”

 _Grandma..._ “Oh, you poor dear, what happened are you alright?”

“Who are you?” _... Dad._

She sat up with Grandma’s help and whipped her head around, briefly noting that her coat was gone. It was weird the tiny things you noticed when you were spiraling. Grandma and Grandpa’s house looked the same as it always did - they sure didn’t. They looked way younger... Dad looked way younger. He looked around her own age. 

She had some idea what might be happening but to be sure she wasn't jumping to delusional Sci-Fi fan conclusions, she asked quietly and with a swirling feeling of nausea settling deep into her stomach, “W-what’s today’s date? Like, the full date.”

Grandpa - Red Forman - grumbled, walked just inside the kitchen enough to grab the paper he was reading before they had noticed her and handed it to her. 

She barely paid attention to the first part - Summer was Summer after all - and just focused on the year. _1978…_

“Oh no… I just got Back to the Future’d didn’t I?” she was so out of it she didn’t realize she said that out loud.

“Back to the Future…?” she heard her Dad - Eric Forman - ask... before she fell back and passed out again.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

There was a point on the line between the dreaming world and the waking world where you knew your eyes were closed but you weren’t quite awake yet. Where it was equally possible you would open your eyes and be back inside the dream or you would open your eyes and be back in reality. Even with that possibility, you often knew which one you were going back to in that moment, even if the dream had felt real inside of itself, when you became aware of your own closed eyes you discovered it wasn’t. You had to make the choice to wake again or to sleep again. 

And that’s where Jessie was right now, her back against the kitchen chair and her eyes shut as tight as she could even though she had come to about five minutes back. She could hear the ambient noise of Kitty Forman, her not-yet Grandma, searching for and fetching a first aid kit and beyond that the distant sound of a Red Forman scolding, she knew when she opened her eyes that she’d be back to the waking world and that the waking world was Summer, 1978. 

Jessica Katherine Forman was nothing if not determined. She could win an award for it if such things existed. So even when she began hearing footsteps come closer and sensed the presence of someone hovering over her, she refused to open her eyes. Anything to stay in the brief moment where she didn’t have to deal with what was happening. 

_‘Please be a dream... please be a dream... please be a dream...’_ she chanted inside her head as she squinted her already closed eyes further closed until her head ached from the effort. Of course, there was a point where determination turned into denial. 

There was a hard light shining against her eyelids...

 _‘Okay, if I’m lucky... Those are headlights from the next bus to Milwaukee. If I’m unlucky... I’ll be stranded eighteen years in the past. D’ya feel lucky Jess?’_ She asked herself, her mind voice shifting into an announcer version of her own for a moment. She braced her shoulders, swallowed the lump lodged in her throat and thought up an answer to herself, _‘No... not at all.’_

Yet the light against her eyelids was becoming annoying so her eyes opened anyway. For a second she was hoping the odds were with her. 

Grandma - no, Kitty was standing over her with a tiny flashlight and a smile that was trying its best to be reassuring, “Well there now, welcome back.”

... This is why she didn’t gamble.

“Okay.” Jessie said to herself, running a hand through her curls to calm herself down. Given the circumstances, it wasn’t working. “...This is happening.” 

“What’s happening sweetheart?” Kitty was staring down at her, confused. Jessie shared that confusion and didn’t even know where to begin to explain. “...” What was she supposed to do? Or say? It was easy to predict the plot of these kinds of movies, to say what the characters should have done ' _… to the point of your friends throwing popcorn at you to make you stop ruining the movie'._ It was another thing entirely to be in the moment and have to say something to real people, not guaranteed to follow a script. 

“I’m… lost.” She admitted, which was true. She was just way more lost than she ever thought she’d be. “I was supposed to be going home and I ended up here. I don’t know how.” 

Kitty looked concerned and sympathetic, which Jessie couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not. As much as she loved Grandma Kitty, she was a busybody on a good day. If she told the truth, she was likely going to end up being thrown into an asylum or something. And if she didn’t come up with some explanation, she was looking at a hospital visit, or some sort of government office. How do you explain that all your information won’t be around for two more years minimum? She’d end up in jail or something. 

She was relieved that the approaching sound was able to let her stall for a few more moments.

“Don’t think just because some stray decided to take a nap in our driveway that it means you’re not still the one in trouble Eric.” She heard Red saying sternly before she saw him walk into the kitchen, Eric following behind him, looking chastised. 

“Oh. You’re up.” He noted, his attention turning back to Jessie. 

“Unfortunately.” She muttered as a reply, more to herself than at Red. Luckily he seemed to let that slide due to her condition, if she had responded that way to him in her time, even she might not have escaped his creative discipline threats. 

Her eyes then drifted to Eric. She couldn’t resist studying him for a moment, even in the midst of the chaos in her mind. He was scrawnier that’s for sure, but then the image of him as her Dad in her thoughts was always sturdy. Always taking care of her. It was so strange to see him looking like he was the one being taken care of. 

She couldn’t help a tiny smile though. It was a real-life photo of her teenaged Dad and he looked so… cute. That was the word. _Cute_. He was a bit older than her if her math was right, and she just wanted to coo over him here anyway. She almost had to remember she was upset with him before this, the fond feeling that strong. 

His green eyes met her teal ones and she felt shy suddenly. It made it more real to stare into the eyes of someone she loved so much who didn’t know her. She still didn’t look away. She managed a bit of a wave, more of a quirk of her fingers than anything. He did fix his frown into an almost welcoming expression for her which was something at least. They stared at each other just a moment longer before they both turned away at the same time, hearing Red speak taking them out of it. 

“So, who are you? And more importantly what’re you doing **_here_ **?”

“I…” Barely that managed to come out before she paused nervously. _‘Say something Jess… say anything… do you even know what speaking is?’_ she thought at herself with increasing mental volume. 

All of the Formans stared back at her and she felt sweat gathering on her scalp and a prickling sensation traveling up her neck. It would be one thing to deceive strangers, but despite the fact that she was a stranger to them, they weren’t strangers to her. She didn’t know if she could do this.

 _“You’re a bad liar Kit…”_ Jessie suddenly heard Uncle Hyde say in her mind and she tensed, a feeling of spite rushing through her at the resurfaced memory. She was not a bad liar, she just didn’t like to lie! Look where other people’s lies got her! No good came from it! … but she had no choice and something to prove. 

_‘Oh yeah, Uncle Hyde? Well I’m about to lie the crap out of this lie!’_ she thought back to the memory version of him as she set her jaw and took a breath. 

_Why did she think he would smile back at that…?_

“I’m Jessica.” She introduced herself, trying to think on her feet. “Jessica... Barnett.” she settled on, and only after she said that did she think to wonder if they knew W.B yet. Luckily, no recognition came from any of the Formans so she continued trying to create a story. “My parents… they… I couldn’t stay with them right now. So I contacted my...” _Grandpa -_ “Uncle William. He said I could come down to stay with him and my cousin Angie. I… I guess I took down the directions wrong. I’ve never left home for this far before.” Jessie finished. 

Well, she wasn’t going to win any acting awards like the ones Diana was aiming for, but she was just lucky anything coherent came out. And even though she felt some sort of satisfaction for pulling it off, she still felt so guilty. “I’m sorry…” she apologized, for the lying. 

Then at their confusion, she amended, “I mean, I’m sorry I bothered you... I didn’t mean to end up here and now I don’t know where I’m supposed to go...” 

That was no lie. She truly didn’t know where she was supposed to go. She sniffled and shifted on her feet staring down at the floor and trying not to cry. She succeeded, but only just. Her eyes felt wet and heavy. As if everything back home wasn’t enough, now she didn’t even have a home to go back to. 

Kitty put her hand up to her mouth at the sight and turned to face Red, who seemed to know exactly what she was going to say and felt the need to put a stop to it before she began. 

“No, absolutely not. Kitty we can barely keep track of our own kids as it is, or did you forget that Chief Dumbass of the Wanna-Foot-Up-His-Ass Tribe just came back from running off to California?”

“So what are we supposed to do Red, just throw her out into the street?” Kitty responded, wrapping her arm around Jessie’s shoulders and hugging her as she stared up at Red with a challenge in her eyes. Jessie didn’t know if staying was a good idea, but considering she didn’t have anywhere else to go, she decided to keep her mouth shut and let Kitty argue on her behalf. 

“It’s not throwing her out in the street! I wouldn’t throw a defenseless girl out there by herself!” Red countered defensively, crossing his arms as he continued, “She _has_ somewhere to go, we just point her in the right direction and then she can meet up with her own family. Family who are expecting her. Family who can _take care of her_.” He put emphasis on the last part with a wave of his hand, not so subtly indicating something to Kitty that Jessie didn’t understand. 

Even knowing they didn’t know her yet, Red treating her like a stranger was yet another hit to her heart. She never had to ask for anything from Grandpa before. 

She pleaded, “Please can I stay for a few days, just until I can get back in touch with my family. I don’t know where to go around here otherwise…”

She saw Red waver, and she knew he could be swayed with a bit more convincing on her part. After all, he truly wouldn’t throw a defenseless girl out into the street. But she didn’t want to start off on a bad foot with any of them and knew that convincing him would mean wearing him down. And she knew wearing Grandpa down meant _wearing him down._ No way would he allow her presence for longer than he had to if she had to force his hand at the start. 

“I’ll pay.” She said, reaching into her pocket and flashing a handful of bills. “I don’t like owing people. I’ll even help out around here if you need it, I’m no freeloader.”

Red’s demeanor transformed in an instant as she suspected it would. 

“Well, that changes things!”

He reached over and pet her head reassuringly, which felt familiar enough to make her properly smile back up at him as he spoke, “You can stay in our daughter’s old room until you figure things out.”

Kitty smiled at having won and Eric seemed to take the distraction as an opportunity to escape from Red, sparing only a glance back at his new housemate before leaving the room. 

* * *

She closed the door behind her and looked all around at the room she was staying in. Back home, a lifetime away, this was the room she stayed in when she visited Grandma and Grandpa. Right now, it belonged to Laurie. 

Ew. She never liked Aunt Laurie. 

Nevertheless, this is where she was able to stay for now and that’s that. Jessie set her heavy bag down on the side of the bed and that’s when it hit her. _She was alone now…_

She buried her face into the pillows and began to scream. It was a wild, ragged, primal sound that would have sent the Formans running, if she hadn't thought to stifle it first. She screamed and felt tears prick at the edges of her eyes. Between her fight with everyone back in 1995, and her current predicament in 1978, she was quickly reaching critical levels of freaking OUT.

With the pillows muffling the sound she was able to release this pent up anxiety until it was spent and once it was, she turned over onto her back to stare up at the ceiling and lightly rub her sore throat. That’s how she spent the next while, just staring at the ceiling until she saw stars behind her eyes. 

Once she was willing to move again, she reached a hand down to her bag and unzipped the front pocket. When her fingertips brushed against the soft plush she craved, she exhaled a sigh through her nose as she brought her old stuffed grasshopper to her chest, holding it tight. He was her oldest friend, besides maybe Betsy. She buried her nose into the worn fabric, the soft fraying material tickling her nose, and inhaled - he smelled like home. 

“Oh… Mr. Hopscotch, what do I do?” she asked aloud. It’s not as if she expected an answer, she just lacked any of her other confidants... most of them weren’t even born yet. She ran her finger lightly along the thick, lopsided seam where the wing was reattached. There was an incident involving Lucas and Diana playing surgeon years ago and neither one of her parents was exactly gifted with sewing. Mr. Hopscotch had seen some days… she could relate after everything that’s happened so far. 

“I’ve got about as long here as I can stall for and then… what, exactly? Leave to find Grandpa and Aunt Angie? That’s where they expect me to go so I can’t just stay here for longer than maybe a week or two! And then what? Why am I here? When can I go back?"

Then she thought of an even worse question, _"… Can I go back?”_

She felt a lump in her throat that she forced herself to swallow through as she hugged Mr. Hopscotch closer to her chest. 

“At least you’re here…” she whispered into the top of his head and pressed a kiss there before gently setting him down on the pillow beside her. She curled into herself and decided her first course of action was to just lay there for a while.

* * *

Jessie had taken it upon herself to explore after ending up taking a nap. She felt at least a little bit better after that and wanted to get a bearing on her surroundings, so here she was getting herself acquainted with the... old house? new house? ... the house. Not much had changed, all things considered - she never realized how much the house was a shrine to its old self until she was able to walk around and recognize nearly everything. Only the phones and the TV seemed to change in the years between the past and present.

Although, the same could not be said for her own house. She had taken a moment to glance at the front just as a man she didn't recognize stepped out. She tried to place his face, but couldn't. At the very least she thought she'd remember a perm **_that_** bad. She shuddered to herself at the memory of it. Behind him before the door shut, she saw the kitchen, which looked more like a magazine version of the ’70s than anything real.

Mom would never let herself live there.

Right now she was headed down to the basement. In her time, it was the clubhouse for her, her siblings and their Point Place friends and it looked as such. Lucas had hung up posters of Lord of the Rings on the walls and it was where he was the Dungeon Master for their game nights, Diana had her many Broadway records playing near-constantly as she practiced her singing, and there was a small vanity Dad, Uncle Hyde and Grandpa helped make for her, that Mom filled with stage makeup. Jessie herself had a patchy denim beanbag chair for reading an ever-changing stack of library books and a mat to place down whenever she wanted to practice her dancing. It was the place most full of memories and she wanted to see what it was before she and her siblings came into the picture.

She opened the door quietly and crept lightly down the stairs, avoiding the bits she knew would make a loud creaking. This wasn’t her home yet, wouldn’t be for a while, so she felt this need to not make a nuisance of herself. Of course, that was about to change.

Her eyes focused on movement from the couch, and landed on a head of curls that was very familiar to her. Just… not from that angle. She was seeing Uncle Hyde and her Mom, or Hyde and Jackie here, and they were attached at the beard. She felt her mouth move before her hands could react and a gasped, “Oh God!” escaped just before her hands clapped over her mouth.

Jackie and Hyde reacted immediately, breaking apart from each other in an instant, adjusting themselves and clearly panicked. She wouldn’t have even felt guilty if she weren’t mad at them. What girl wants to see her parents get to second base on a couch?

Hyde saw her first, and paused from his scramble. Neither of them knew her, so there wasn’t as much of an urgency to conceal themselves. “… Wait a minute, who the Hell are you?”

Before she could answer the three of them could hear singing… _"Oh Say Can You See…"_

“What’s that…?” Jessie managed to ask before it started again.

_"Oh Say Can You See… Oh Say Can You See…"_

Jackie’s eyes widened as she answered, “Fez!” she pushed Hyde further away from her and the two finished what they started, fixing their hair and clothes enough so when the back door swung open and Fez entered the room, it was as if they weren’t just playing tonsil hockey. _‘So you two were always good at lying then…’_ Jessie thought, bitterness on the tip of her tongue, as she leaned against the railing and watched the scene unfold.

“Wait a second… you two look sweaty and guilty…”

 _‘Ha! Get ‘em Uncle Fez!’_ she thought to herself, a bit of a laugh in her throat. The pair looked up at Jessie with a panic, silently begging her not to say anything. Well, Jackie looked like she was begging, Hyde looked vaguely threatening as if to scare her into secrecy. Jessie lightly snorted, however she thought of him right now, she knew he wouldn’t dare put his hands on a girl, even if she was a stranger.

Besides, they hardly had to worry; she had her own secret to keep.

Fez’s eyes followed theirs as he was speaking; “Have you been-” he trailed off as he caught sight of her.

Jessie awkwardly blinked.

He blinked back.

His attention completely left the relieved pair as he strode up to Jessie, his eyes lighting up in a way that made Jessie twitch with alarm, “Why hello there, did it hurt when you have fallen out of Heaven?”

 _‘Nope. Absolutely not. Not today. Or ever!’_ She thought right before she pointed up to the door with her thumb, “I’m Jessica, I’m staying here for the week, and I think I hear Mrs. Forman calling me, bye!”

She bolted up the stairs as quickly as she could, leaving the three of them behind the door as she shut it. _‘This can’t possibly get any worse than Uncle Fez flirting with me.’_

Somehow she doubted that, but it would be hard to beat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy! Second chapter already! I was very excited by the positive feedback and figured I'd try to write more! I am not confident in my abilities to set-up things to keep the plot moving, but neither is Jessie so hopefully it comes across the way I want it to!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last, another chapter! 
> 
> I'm hoping it reads well, I had intended more to happen within this chapter and then what I had already written was ten pages long and I don't want these to drag on, so I made the decision to cut what I had intended in half. Should be fine, consider this the 'set-up' part! Hope you enjoy it!

_The first thing she’s aware of is the wait. There was this sensation that she was waiting for quite a while now. At first, she couldn’t quite remember what was happening and where she was. She glanced around at the stark white walls, the reception desk, the chairs where her Dad sat with her Stepmother and her brothers and the memory came back to her instantly. She was here at the hospital waiting to visit her Mom, who had just given birth to her baby brother or sister!_

_Of course. How could she forget…?_

_Jessie felt the excitement rushing back into her at that moment. She was nearly out of her seat with renewed energy, pressing her tiptoes against the waiting room floor. Everything around the waiting room felt softer, brighter and happier as she remembered how joyful she was that moment. She tucked a stray curl behind her ear and imagined what the baby would be. She quietly hoped for a baby sister this time, there hadn’t been a girl for a while now._

_Movement just to the side caught her eye and she glanced over to see Diana let out a sigh and lean over onto Lucas’ personal space, resting the upper half of her body against his armrest and his shoulder, “When are they going to let us see the baby, I’m, like, so tired of waiting!”_

_Lucas used his elbow to nudge Diana back inside her own space as he calmly responded to her impatient question, “Come on, we’ll be able to see the new baby soon, just be patient.”_

_Diana let out a ‘Psh!’ noise and then said with insistence, “Patience is for people whose time isn’t as valuable as mine,” she briefly checked her makeup and hair with her compact, not noticing the look of amusement shared over her head by her brother and sister, then closed it with a snap as she continued, “Besides, I’m just excited okay? We haven’t had a baby sibling to dote on since forever ago and we might not get the chance to do this again!”_

_That was true, the gap between siblings only grew over time and maybe this latest addition to the family would be the last. So Jessie could understand the way Diana felt._

_“It makes me shiver with antici…” Diana trailed off on the last word, laying the back of her hand against her forehead and closing her eyes. She was the picture of theatrics and they were quite used to this from her by now. Jessie met Lucas’ eyes from the other side of Diana and they exchanged a mischievous smile. This was their favorite part. They both watched her for a solid minute as she clearly waited for them to finish her sentence._

_“Antici...” she tried again, to no avail. Jessie and Lucas just continued to stare silently at her, the slightest hint of teasing smiles on their faces, which luckily she couldn’t see._

_Diana opened her eyes and sat up, the dramatics ceasing and brushed off her skirt with a softly muttered, “I don’t know why I even-“_

_“-PATION!” Jessie and Lucas shouted on either side of her just then, startling Diana, and their Dad and Stepmother who were keeping their younger brothers busy. That outburst earned them a loud ‘Shush!’ from one of the nurses and a warning glare from Dad to behave. Jessie bit her lip to stifle her amusement for a moment and gave him a sheepish, apologetic smile before turning back to her siblings. It was at Diana and her glare that the laughter escaped at last._

_Diana gave an annoyed huff and smacked Lucas and Jessie on each of their shoulders as they tried to laugh as quietly as possible, “You guys are, like, the worst sometimes!”_

_Lucas chuckled through the pain and pointed out, “We told you to be patient, if you had just listened to us then you would have gotten the moment to land.”_

_Diana fidgeted a bit again impatiently before sliding further down into the chair and sighed, this time her impatience was more disappointed than anything. “Whatever, I’m way over the waiting thing. Maybe we should just come back tomorrow...?”_

_Jessie took a moment to rub her stinging shoulder and breathe before giving her sister a sympathetic pat on the head, “Aw, Di, that’s quitter talk!”_

_She was about to say more and then a voice was inside her head, whispering a warning, 'Listen to her… don’t stay here… if you just leave now, nothing has to change...'_

_She blinked, confused._ **_‘What was that about?’_ ** _she thought to herself. She pushed the warning from the voice aside and then continued, “... I’ll check on Mom and Uncle Hyde okay? I’m sure they’re ready for us, chances are they’re just having a ‘Hallmark Moment’ with the baby and forgot how long we’ve had to wait out here.”_

_Diana perked up at that and gave her a grateful smile as she said, “Thanks Jessie!” and then she threw an arm around her shoulders that Jessie welcomed. Lucas scoffed at them with a smile, which Diana took as a challenge and did the same to him, hugging them close to her for a second. It reminded her once more of one important fact that superseded any other._

_The Formans stick together._

_Jessie rose to her feet and turned toward the direction of the hospital room, glancing briefly at her Dad and tilting her head to the hallway to let him know where she’d be. At his approving nod she began to walk. Last thing she heard was Diana calling out to her from behind, “Oh! And don’t forget to mention to Stepdad that the new bundle of joy isn’t an excuse to skip our weekly chess match, I’ve brought over the travel set in my backpack!”_

_Jessie let out an “Mhm!” as a quick response to her sister before she rounded the corner to the hallway._

_Suddenly, the air around her became ice cold. She blinked as she swore the hallway began to change. One second it was normal and then... it stretched out way longer than she expected. It didn’t quite look right... were hospital hallways always this long? This... foreboding?_

_Harsh white light glinted bright off of the overly slick floor tiles and she instantly felt the urge to turn back and sit with her family. It wouldn’t be a big deal for Diana to learn patience after all. She tried to do just that, yet her feet remained on the same path. One more attempt was made to turn back, trying to about face, to no avail. She turned right back around to the path ahead. It was as if she was a train on a track, having only one direction to go. With this, she began to walk, as if she had already done this and knew what she had to do. Her steps felt unsure and heavy and each footfall echoed louder and louder._

_There was no sense of time in this moment, it may have taken seconds or days before she reached where her Mom was supposed to be. She peeked through the partial opening for a moment to see if it would disturb Mom or the baby for her to walk inside._

_Jessie felt the tension inside her relax for a moment as she saw her Mom and Uncle Hyde with the baby. For a moment, the sight warmed her heart._

_Mom was sat up and had her head tilted down toward the bundle curled inside her arms and Uncle Hyde was over on the other side of her, protective and sure as he hovered over Mom and the baby. He had this tender smile on his face that matched the one Mom had, she even thought she could even see tears gathering at the corner of his eyes, though maybe it was just her imagination. Jessie focused on the bundle itself, she could just spot the hint of rosy cheeks and blonde wisps of hair from the angle she was at._

_This was… nice. She was right, this was definitely a Hallmark Moment they were having. No wonder they’ve had to wait so long. She almost didn’t want to interrupt and yet she brought up her hand to lightly knock and let them know she was here. Just as her knuckles were about to make contact, she heard it._

_“Oh Steven, look at her… she’s beautiful isn’t she?”_

_“... Yeah. Yeah she is. Reminds me of when Jessie was born. She looks like her.”_

_“And they both look like you.”_

_Jessie froze and then pressed herself against the wall, her mind reeling. ' No… no no no no…' that voice inside her mind started up again, 'Leave now, or interrupt them… you can still salvage this…'_

_And yet frozen in the spot was where she stayed. She couldn’t rewrite this moment however much she wanted to. She furrowed her brow, back in the moment, and leaned over in the doorway again._

_Clearly she had missed parts of what they had said, because when she peeked into the room again, they looked a bit more serious than sentimental._

_“Do I wish things had been different? … No one wants to see their chick with another man, much less raising his kid for him.”_

_Jessie’s toes curled with anger at that, it was just about the only thing she could feel right now. Dad wasn’t ‘another man’ he was_ **_Dad._ **

_“I wish I had gotten my sh…” Uncle Hyde looked down at the infant, that was now in his arms and changed his words at the last second, “My life together. For you and Jessie. … But at least I’m here now. For you too, Sophie.” He specified, gently running the back of his finger along the baby’s cheek._

_“With all the mistakes we made along the way, it’s lucky we ended up here together.” Mom insisted as she welcomed baby Sophie back into her arms. Jessie turned away as the two smiled and stared at each other. Their happiness wasn’t nice. It was sickening._

**_‘Mistakes… was Dad just a mistake? Were Lucas and Diana mistakes… was I a mistake’_ ** _the thoughts were tumbling around in her head like a twister. They were such a distraction she didn’t register the walk back through the hallway until she was back in the lively waiting room. What felt happy before felt harsh and taunting now._ **_‘That can’t be right. Maybe he just meant because he loved Mom he wishes he could have been my Dad… or something like that… I’m still the person I thought I was.’_ **

_“So, how much longer do we wait?”_

_She doesn’t have an answer for Diana and can’t even look at any of her siblings - she was afraid to see their faces and start wondering how much of herself she would see there … or not see there, with Lucas and Diana, instead making her way straight to her Dad._

_“Jessie…?”_

_“Dad… I don’t feel so good… can you and Aunt Maggie take me back to the house?”_

_“What? You were so excited to see the baby, don’t back out now - what’s wrong?” Diana asked before Dad could say anything._

_Lucas came around and touched Jessie on the arm, trying to meet her eyes. Jessie turned her head away before he could and Lucas asked, “Were they still dealing with Doctor stuff in there? You look kinda queasy.”_

_Aunt Maggie, blessed Aunt Maggie, put her hands on both of the twins shoulders and led them away from Jessie, “None of that now, can’t you see she’s not doin’ well?”_

_Jessie ran into the arms of her Stepmother then, hiding her face from the rest of her family. Aunt Maggie tensed for just a second before holding her and gently petting her curly hair. It was barely a comfort but that was better than nothing._ _“Of course we’ll take you home Jess’e, you don’t have to do anything you can’t handle.” Aunt Maggie assured her, to which her siblings, now realizing the seriousness of the moment, murmured their agreement._

_In the midst of her family, Jessie saw the doctor, though to her he looked more like a menacing shadow than a kindly man. He towered over the group and when he opened what passed for his mouth, he said something that sent loud sirens of alarm through her whole body, “Mr. and Mrs. Hyde are ready for visitors, who wants to see their new baby sister?”_

_Diana and Lucas were distracted from their concern with the announcement and rushed off into the hallway toward… them, vanishing into the shadows. She wanted to scream for them to come back and stay with her but her tongue felt twisted into a knot. She turned out of the hug just enough to see Reggie run after them and Dylan stumble behind Reggie._

_Aunt Maggie let go of her then, “I should go check on them, make sure they’re not overwhelming your Ma. Your Da will take you home.” She kissed Jessie on the forehead lightly, then followed after them. Jessie was rigidly frozen to the spot where she had been anchored to this whole time._

_Her Dad came around to face her and she was grateful for him blocking the increasing darkness. He was light, safe and secure. She couldn’t believe he wasn’t her Dad, her real Dad. He lightly grasped her shoulders and she wanted to cry and hug him and hope that she had just misunderstood what she heard._

_“Are you sure you want me to take you home Jessie? Don’t you want to meet the baby?”_

_When he asked her that, the scene began to melt around her, the hospital was gone, the distant sounds of her siblings excitedly meeting their baby sister were gone. She and Dad were the last ones standing._

_There was only one thing she wanted less than to see that baby right now… and that was for what she heard to be true._

_“No!”_

_-_

Jessie shot up from her sleep instantly, her breathing coming quickly and her fight-or-flight instinct activated by the nightmare. She had the sheets clutched tightly in her fingers and her heartbeat pulsed inside her eardrums. It was always hard to wake up after that memory nightmare. It was a long moment before she was able to be aware of her surroundings. 

Those surroundings, of course, being Aunt Laurie’s bedroom. In Nineteen-Seventy-Freakin’-Eight. Of course. 

Jessie sighed and threw her head back against the pillows then she turned over to the window and saw that it wasn’t even light outside. _‘Great...’_

“Out of one nightmare and into another...” she muttered to herself, before sitting back up. She didn’t think she’d be able to get back to sleep, so it was time to be productive instead. 

* * *

Jessie did a practiced slide across the floor to reach the table with the pan of food she had made, moving the hot breakfast she had made onto the plates. Since she couldn’t sleep and had a few hours to herself, making breakfast for the family felt like a decent way to kill time. She used to make breakfast for her younger siblings to help out but hadn’t cooked for anyone besides herself for a while, having spent the last year trying harder and harder to avoid her family. If she ignored the circumstances entirely, it was almost a nice return to form. And with that time to herself and the busy work to hold off her anxiety she had been able to think. 

She was never the type to let life happen to her. If there was something she could do to figure out how to solve a problem, she’d solve it. All she wanted was for things to be right in the world; for herself, for her siblings, for her friends and family. It was another reason why the present _(or the future, she supposed)_ situation bothered her so much, to her, there was no work to be done to fix it. As far as she was concerned, there was no solution. She was just… not who she thought she was. 

She refused to let this be the same thing. If she could help it, she’d never be so caught off guard ever again. 

There wasn’t any logic to what was happening, one minute she was freezing on a bus station bench in the ‘90s and the next minute she was scorching on pavement in the ‘70s. And in the absence of logic, there was the fantastical, the absurd, the seemingly impossible - the language of speculative fiction. She decided to start there. Today she would visit the library and check out anything related to the subject of time travel, or the looking glass, or anything that could explain what happened and more importantly, how to get home. She was sure it wouldn’t be as easy as finding a solution right then and there, however the only wrong thing to do right now was nothing. At worst, she’d get some reading done to distract her from all of this. 

With that game plan set, she decided to let herself focus on cooking breakfast and dancing around the kitchen, which was where she was now. Jessie hadn’t noticed the sounds of people entering the kitchen, caught up with setting the table and singing to what she thought was herself, “People always told me, be careful of what you do… don't go around breaking young girls' hearts… mother always told me, be careful of who you love… be careful of what you do 'cause the lie becomes the truth!” 

“What’s going on here?” Red asked with a gruff, sleepy voice. 

Jessie let out an undignified squeak at the question which cut off her singing and she nearly spilled the juice she was pouring when she went rigid, only just steadying the pitcher when she straightened. 

“Oh! Good morning Formans!” She said with a tone that was just slightly too perky. She cringed internally and tried to relax, setting down the pitcher and gesturing toward the table. “I made breakfast!”

Kitty looked delighted, “Oh! I haven’t had someone cook for me since the last time I went to a hotel!” she laughed that very familiar laugh of hers and sat down first, quickly joined by Eric. 

“I already like her better than Laurie.” He said, staring down at his plate - the compliment warmed Jessie from head to toe even though it was hardly the kind she was used to from him, “Can we trade?”

Kitty seemed to think about that for a second while Red grumbled with annoyance at the comment and sat down, he eyed the breakfast skeptically. “What’s this?”

Jessie sat down at the last remaining chair and picked up her fork, spearing a bite of eggs, “I made Huevos Rancheros.” she answered, taking a bite. She had made as mild a version as possible for their sake and spared a thought back to her time, the Cabreras would absolutely be mad at this version - lucky for her they’d wouldn’t know she had ever made it. 

At the blank stares she received as a response she swallowed her bite and clarified, “Eggs, diced vegetables and beans, basically.” as she gave that white-people-friendly answer to what ‘huevos rancheros’ were, she idly wondered if they had met a single ethnic person other than Fez yet. She wouldn’t bet on it. 

It appeared to go over well enough with everyone, so for a while the four of them just ate. 

“So, Jessica-“ Red started to say and Jessie interrupted quickly - hearing him call her ‘Jessica’ was Capital ‘W’ Weird. 

“Heh, Jess’s fine, by the way. Or Jessie. Almost no one calls me Jessica.”

“Right… Jess.” … also weird, but at least she didn’t have to feel as much a stranger to her own grandpa, “What are your plans for today? I hope they don’t involve loitering anywhere around here, we have enough of that with the other kids that aren’t ours. … and the ones that are for that matter.” She wasn’t entirely sure whether or not he was joking, though of course she had no plans to lay around here today anyway so it didn’t matter. 

“I was hoping one of you could point me in the direction of a library around here? … I’m missing a bit of school with this whole thing, so…” she trailed off before she could lie. She was going to miss school after all, it’s just that her vacation homework from ‘95 wouldn’t be due for about eighteen years and four months from now, so she could afford to do some… personal research. 

Kitty and Red both seemed surprised by that, which made Jessie wonder what everyone here was like before they had to have Betsy, herself, and all the other kids to take care of. 

Hopefully she wouldn’t be sticking around long enough to find out. 

“This one’s got a good head on her shoulders, you could learn from her.” He pointed his fork from Jessie to Eric. 

“If I learn everything I can from Jessie before she leaves, will you give me my car back?” Eric asked, hopeful. 

“No.”

“Then I’m in no rush.” He responded drily, and Jessie laughed. She hadn’t realized how much of her Dad she missed, not just here but back in her present. In his present, he preened at someone laughing with him, maybe because she didn’t try to burn him back. 

“Maybe you could take her Eric, I don’t want Jessie getting lost out there.” Kitty stood up from the table and went for where the keys were, intending to hand them to Eric. Red intercepted them before she could. Jessie nearly protested, then remembered that while Jessie Forman could likely find the library on muscle memory even if everything around it had changed, Jessie Barnett had no idea the lay of the land, so she kept quiet.

“Absolutely not, he’s not getting that damn car back for any reason-“

“I have to go to work so I can’t do it. I suppose you want to drive _our guest_ around all day yourself?” Kitty pointed out. 

Red grumbled at the idea and took another bite of breakfast before he responded. He didn’t look happy about it, but Jessie suspected he had enjoyed her breakfast enough to do her a favor, if he hadn’t, she might have been given directions written on a napkin and a pat on the back. 

“You go straight there. You come straight back. You don’t put a single tire out of line. Then the keys are right back in my hand. Got that?” Red directed, leaving no room for debate. 

“What am I supposed to do while she’s at the library?”

“Not drive off, that’s for sure. Sit there and play with your keys. Or go inside and check out a book on how not to be such a dumbass. Either way, I’ve got eyes everywhere. So don’t try anything.” Red said firmly. 

“Yes Sir.” Eric said, taking the keys at last. 

“I’ll go fix myself up real quick and then we can head out.” Jessie said, tilting her head toward the living room. She and Eric walked out of the kitchen together in that direction. 

“You made breakfast and you got me my car back for the day without blackmailing me to do it, are you sure you don’t want to become my sister? It won’t be hard to convince my mom to trade. Laurie never made her breakfast.” Eric joked, lightly nudging her with his elbow. 

“Tempting… I love my own Dad though, so.” Jessie nudged him back, more meaning held inside her words than he could understand, before heading upstairs to grab her stuff. 

* * *

“Oh my god!” Jessie said as she walked outside, her eyes widening with glee, “It’s the Vista Cruiser!” She couldn’t resist running around the car real quick, taking it in. “I haven’t had a ride inside this thing since I was a baby!”

“Well, you’ve never ridden inside _this_ thing.” Eric pointed out from behind her, patting the hood. 

“Y-yeah…” she said, embarrassed at her slip-up. She _was_ talking about this one, “I was talking about my Dad’s Vista Cruiser.” _‘Yeah! THIS ONE!’_

“It kicked the bucket when I was a toddler. I’ve seen pictures of myself inside. I always wished it could have ended up my first car.”

Before he could say anything else on the topic, she opened the door and got in the passenger seat, placing her backpack between them. She had carefully hidden her Gameboy, her Cellphone, her Pager and her Walkman under the bed along with anything else that could give up her cover. So she mostly had pencils, pens and her one empty R2-D2 journal - which was officially her _‘Back to the Future: Jessie Edition’_ journal now - in there. 

Makes her wish she had bought one with a DeLorean on it instead.

 _‘Ah well, hindsight is 20/20’_ , she thought to herself as Eric started the car and they drove off to the library.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so the longest part was the dream sequence - that's partially why I was concerned it might not read well, because half of the chapter is just spent reliving Jessie's conflicts inside her head. Might be a bit self-indulgent, though I wanted to show early on just how much this has affected her and I think it's worth it. 
> 
> I had fun writing it, and I guess that's what matters, right? 
> 
> Also, for anyone keeping track, we're within 'I Can't Quit You Baby' time wise, so there will definitely be more Jackie/Hyde bits next.
> 
> Fun Fact: I added one unnecessary joke in the chapter specifically for MistyMountainHop about something we talked about on Tumblr. Meanwhile, Jessie singing 'Billie Jean' is just for my sense of humor only. x)
> 
> Fun Fact #2: I've been working on charity illustrations for the past week or so, so I'll go back and edit the artwork into the respective chapters when I'm able to draw them!
> 
> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I wrote way more than I expected to, so I split the next chapter halfway - so this chapter and the following one will release back-to-back! Double feature! Should be up tomorrow. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one!

“Is that a Starfleet pin?” was what Eric asked suddenly, startling Jessie out of her thoughts. For a minute or so before this, they had just driven quietly, only the radio, left low _(she suspected he was a little afraid Red wasn’t lying about eyes everywhere and wanted to not push the luck)_ , to keep the atmosphere from being awkwardly silent. 

On his end, it wasn’t as if he had much to say to Jessie, a near stranger who wouldn’t be around for long, even if she was in his good graces so far. On her end, any of the things she wanted to say to Eric were meant for the version that left back at the end of ‘95. It was difficult to decide how she felt about him right now, without the added complication. Even trying to put aside any relation these… tabula rasa variants had to her parents, and therefore the situation they had left her to deal with back in the present, it was hard to be close to Eric right now. And, taking it into account, it was physically painful to be reminded that now he wasn’t her father two different ways. 

Last thing she needed was another slip-up to explain away, she was barely holding on to begin with, she barely remembered her cover story and she only came up with it the previous day. She didn’t trust her abilities yet if this managed to be even harder to hold onto. 

So she was fine with not talking so far, and when he broke the silence with his inquiry, it was a second before she could register he even said anything. 

“Hm?” She asked, and he pointed with one finger to where the pin was fixed to her dress. She forgot it was even there, “Oh, I thought I had switched that pin over to my jean jacket.” Granted, her priorities had changed a lot recently, so it was hard to care about whether or not a pin wasn’t where it should be. “Yeah, it is. I’m a ‘Trekkie. Picked the pin up at the last convention I was at. Also bought posters, iron-on patches for my jacket, and a model U.S.S. Enterprise to construct for my bedroom. Ties the whole space together.”

“Ha!” He exclaimed, triumphantly loud and Jessie tilted her head, confused. It was fortunate they were at a stoplight, because he might have crashed the car if they had moved. Even having known what a fan he was, that didn’t prepare her for _that_ reaction. He coughed awkwardly at his own outburst, then explained with a smile, “My friends burn me for liking these kinds of things, y’know, ‘nerd things’, and the fact that girls don’t find that impressive has come up once or twice... or twenty times. A day.”

She couldn’t help laughing at his response, “Is that so?” she asked, even though she knew the answer already. After all, the burns wouldn’t stop by her time. In fact, she suspected they’d be burning him for it into the new millennium. _‘Some things never change at least.’_ She thought, which was almost comforting. 

“Yeah, I can’t wait to show them proof that a living, breathing girl enjoys this stuff as much as I do, that’ll show them I’m not… well, _as_ much of a nerd as they think.”

“Hey, what’s wrong with a nerd? … I ask, as one of them.” 

“Nothing at all, nerds have the best movies and comics, and I’ve got company now!” Damn. Damn the fact that he was so easy to bond with, and damn how glad she was he was here, despite everything. She knew it would only be harder, more ways than one, if she let herself get attached. Yet here she was. 

“For now anyway.” She said, trying to sound casual and withdrawn, to end the conversation. She wasn’t sure if she succeeded. 

Another silent moment, only half as long as before, until he asked another question of her _(so she failed)_ , “So, who’s your favorite character?”

She lifted her finger as she was about to say the honest answer, then caught herself just in time. _‘Don’t say Captain Janeway, she doesn’t exist yet. Or Captain Picard, or Deanna Troi, or Seven-of-Nine, or…’_ she ran through the list and when she reached someone he would know, she said it aloud, “Uhura, I’d say Lieutenant Uhura is my favorite, yeah.” _‘Of the characters you’d know, anyway.’_

“I’m a Captain Kirk man myself, he’s the one that keeps everything together. Not to brag, but I’m definitely the Captain Kirk of my friend group.”

She rested her elbow on the dashboard, and her chin on her fist, glancing over to him with a smile, “ Fair enough Captain. Though, and this is just me, I’d pick Luke Skywalker over Captain Kirk any day of the week.” 

His smile was nearly stretched up to his ears when she said that, “I’m driving my car again, and I’ve got someone to talk Star Trek and Star Wars with, this grounding isn’t half bad!” 

_‘Traitor.’_ she whispered to her heart, that she could feel swelling with affection toward him… She might as well enjoy spending time with him today, before things get worse.

* * *

So animated they ended up during their discussion of Star Wars, they took a while before they made the distance from where they parked the car to the library. Despite having the basic sense to not to change any major events of the future - Time Travel Rule #1 - she couldn’t resist teasing him with a few things. 

“What? There’s no way Obi-Wan would come back if they did a sequel, that would ruin the impact of his death!” Eric exclaimed incredulously at her ‘prediction’ 

“I’d be willing to bet money on it!” Jessie insisted with a knowing smile, she watched the entire trilogy back-to-back when the movies came to VHS and would continue to do so, she could recite them forwards and backwards - assuming her presence here wouldn’t change anything, she could recite the following sequels to him if she wanted. “If they ever did a sequel, they’d find a way to bring back Obi-Wan to some capacity. Maybe through the Force. Also, if it were up to me, I’d name the movie _‘The Empire Strikes Back’_ or something.”

“Nice title!” He noted, giving her the props she absolutely didn’t deserve. 

“Thank you, I’m a genius.” She said, playful, nudging him with her elbow, then she continued, “I’d also bet they escalate the romantic tension with the leads -“

“Luke and Leia are ending up together, I just know it!”

He was one of those? Oh, now that was _fun_ , she almost wanted to stick around just to see his first reaction to the reveal… “I don’t know, I wouldn’t count out Han and Leia just yet.” His disbelieving scoff almost made her sympathize with his eventual disappointment, if it wasn’t so hilarious. “Oh, and, my big bet? Darth Vader? He’s definitely related to Luke Skywalker, somehow. Maybe… brother? Oh. Or… maybe his _father_. Something like…” Jessie cleared her throat and tried to imitate Darth Vader, to hilariously terrible results, “ **_Luke... I am your father._ **”

Jessie and Eric broke out into laughter at that. Of course, the fact that she was living through an Empire Strikes Back ending hadn’t escaped her notice. She had definitely had a few nightmares about being Jessie Skywalker and Darth Hyde revealing that he was her father. 

“You have a way with titles, I’ll give you that, but none of those ideas you mentioned would happen, dream on.”

“Who knows? Nobody knows what’s happening, except whoever’s lucky enough to make the sequel.” She smiled to herself, _‘And me! I know!’,_ “Anything could happen.”

So there was something fun about this situation, though she hoped she wouldn’t be here long enough to see his face when her ‘predictions’ come true. Even if it’d be hilarious. 

Eric opened the door for her and continued, forgetting to lower his voice as he went back to his earlier point, “Anyway, they have to get together, Luke and Leia remind me of me and my girlfriend, D-“

“Shh!” Someone responded sharply which took them both by surprise. Jessie hadn’t been paying much attention, preoccupied with trying to remember where the Science Fiction section would be.

“Well, anyway, we’re here.” He said, ending the conversation and fixing his volume for the library. They walked toward the desk and Jessie rang the bell for assistance. She turned her head to look on either side of the desk and there wasn’t anyone there. Jessie was about to just try to find the section she needed through muscle memory when she heard, just off to the side of her, “Can I help you?”

“Yes I’m looking for your Sci…”

She’d recognize that shiny cascade of hair anywhere, and the gleam of the library lights off of it was enough to make her mental record skip a few times… “B-“ she couldn’t even start the word without nearly swallowing her tongue. _‘Was Betsy here too? Would that be a good thing or a bad thing?’_

Shiny Hair turned to face the pair of them more and Jessie nearly collapsed with relief when she saw the face properly, _‘Oh, thank Mother Earth, it’s just Aunt Brooke.’_ Then she tensed again as it occurred to her, _‘… Wait no, it’s Aunt Brooke! She’s smarter than anyone else I know, I can’t say anything, she might know something’s wrong!’_

“Sci… Um, I’m assuming what you meant to say there was SciFi?” Brooke asked Jessie kindly. Did she have to look so much like Betsy? That made it hard _not_ to say something. Jessie felt her blush spreading from her cheeks to her ears and neck. 

She nodded shyly, shuffling her feet a bit and followed behind Brooke, pressing her hand to her face to try and chase the heat away. After leading Jessie where she needed to go, Brooke went back to nonchalantly sorting books like she didn’t just scare Jessie half to death. Which, she didn’t as far as she knows. Jessie let out a sigh and relaxed once she was gone. 

“Do you know Brooke or something?” Eric asked, curious, “You looked like you were going to pass out when she started talking to you.”

“No, no I don’t!” Jessie insisted slightly faster than she meant to, then reminded herself that she shouldn’t be suspicious and explained as calmly as she could, “She just… reminded me of someone back home. Just caught me off guard s’all.”

To her Dad, she knew she would have looked suspicious but to just Eric, he had no reason to doubt her, which was helpful right now… but a bit disappointing. He just accepted her answer and went off to find some comics to read to pass the time. It was pleasant to be around him when she could forget the circumstances, but when she remembered, it only hurt more. 

_‘Just keep reminding yourself that this is not your Dad yet, you can’t get caught up like this Jess, you’ll get yourself into trouble…’_ she reminded herself as she began taking books off the shelves. _'In fact, he's not your father at all, **apparently**. Even if he was the best Dad in the world and Darth Hyde chose not to be, that **apparently** doesn't matter...'_ she pushed the resentful thoughts out of her head, those weren't going to get her home and that was the larger issue.

She sat down with an armful of books, opened her notebook and began to purse her lips as she held her pencil tight with determination. It was time to figure some things out. 

-

She had started off with confidence, two hours ago… now she was much less, to say the least. She was surrounded by papers and opened books with post-its scrawled with notes on many pages and none of that mess had certainty in the mix.

Jessie began reading over what she had written, first her cover story, which she made sure to write as many details for as possible, in case anyone asked for any of this. There was that solved, at least. 

“Okay… let's go over what I know…” she murmured absently out loud as she turned the page: 

  * _**Who:** Jessie Forman, Age: Fifteen-and-a-Half_
  * _**What:** Tried to go back to Milwaukee on the bus, from the Point Place stop. Sat down on a bench at the bus station, passed out from the cold. Woke up about eighteen years in the past, and on my grandparents driveway, in the heat. __Possible Conclusions - Time Travel? (Other Options: Entered an Alternate Universe, Locked Inside a Dream, Experiencing Cosmic Torture, etc.)? __… starting from Time Travel just narrows everything down, I’ll reassess as I find out more information._
  * _**When:** Saturday, December 23rd, 1995 at 10:00-ish O’Clock, PM to Summer, 1978 at Morning O’Clock, AM (Note to Self: Ask Eric for the actual Date/Time)_
  * _**Where:** Point Place, Wisconsin_
  * _**Why:** (?)_
  * _**How:** (?)_



It was the last two questions that she had no idea the answers to. She was marking off sections of books left and right and so far there wasn’t a consistent theme or anything that related to her yet. Try as she might there was nothing that jumped out as what was happening to her.

There wasn’t a TARDIS, a DeLorean or a Looking Glass, no time machine that she could use to get _‘Back to the Future’_ ...unless maybe that was the bench she sat on? It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, she supposed… however then that’d surely be something that she’d heard about before. No way could she be the first person ever to magically time travel from that bench. She’d have to look into that, though it would be hard without easy access to a computer. Maybe she could try to match the circumstances…? But considering it was Summer right now, it wouldn’t be exact. She didn’t want to think about having to stay here for months just to sit on some bus bench and hope that _maybe_ it would take her home.

Inside, the scientist in her wilted at the inconclusive data, and the inability to test any theories so far. She was out of her element here, for now. She made a note on the next blank line to test that theory, if somehow she was stuck here that long. If that bus bench _was_ a time machine, maybe she could salvage a university scholarship out of this experience by finding out. 

What else then? Well, there was also analyzing why in these stories there was a need for time travel to begin with as a storytelling device. She wasn’t quite as good at English as she was at Science, but a B-grade understanding of Literary Analysis was enough to give her something to go on. 

Namely, a lot of how travelers actions in the past affect the future…

Which made Jessie’s mind wander back to the _other_ situation that was on her mind… what was she meant to _do_ if she was even meant to do something? Her dream from the night before echoed inside her head: _“With all the mistakes we made along the way, it’s lucky we ended up here together.”_

Was she supposed to fix those mistakes? … What would that mean for everything she knew if that’s why she was sent back here? Images of her life back in the present flashed inside her head. Surely she wasn’t meant to undo that was she? I mean, she had JUST thought about _'Time Travel Rule #1'_ aka _'Don't Change The Future, You Dink!'_ and here she was, thinking that was a possibility? And yet... she had to consider every option. And, like it or not, this was an option.

She felt her entire body go cold at the thought and she slumped over, resting her head on her arms on the table. Her eyes caught the ‘Cosmic Torture’ theory she had written and even if that wasn’t what was happening, it sure felt like a bonus. 

“Hey Jessie, are you ready to g-Uh… are you okay?”

Eric was behind her and she tried to fix her face into something that didn’t reveal her misery before turning around to face him. She couldn’t quite meet his eyes as she murmured something about how she was - “Fine, just tired of studying…” and focused on a box he was holding instead, “What’s that?”

“Crumb Cake, I picked it up from the bakery nearby while you were studying.”

“... Why?”

“Attempted bribery.”

“Oh. ‘K.” She said, standing up and gathering everything she could carry to bring it to the desk to check out. Maybe if she kept reading, and reading, and reading s'more, she'd find some solution that didn't change her whole world waiting back home. 

“I also picked up one of those large black and white cookies, if you want it.” He said offhandedly, and Jessie could see there was something laying on top of the box, which was about the size of exactly that.

“Oh…” She loved those cookies. He didn’t even know that, it was just a coincidence. One that lifted her spirits. They were already so connected, so how could that be a mistake? Even if Eric wasn’t quite Dad yet, and even if she was upset with him when she got here, he was making her happy and bonding with her already. The two of them had a connection that was beyond any retcon. Whatever Mom and Uncle Hyde thought, there was no mistake about them. 

So surely it had to be something else. It just had to be. She clung to that thought as hard as she could. “... ‘K!”

* * *

She could just hear him say something to someone as she left the car, “There’s her now - Jessie! Hey!” He grasped her by the wrist the second she was standing and she squeaked with surprise, just barely holding onto the books she was carrying. She tried to follow his lead so she wouldn’t trip. 

“Easy there Eric, there's enough books here to bring both of us down.” Jessie pointed out as she steadied her balance. She was on the tinier side, he was on the … she would be nice and say slender, side. If she lost her footing right now, neither had a chance at not pounding pavement. 

“Sorry,” He said, releasing her and once she wasn’t focused on him, she was able to see a familiar flash of red hair out of the corner of her eye, “Donna, this is the guest who I was driving around, Jessica. Jessie, this is my… incredibly hot… girlfriend, Donna.”

Donna gave a friendly, if a bit reserved, look to Jessie and said, “Hey, nice to meet you.”

Jessie beamed for a moment at the ‘stranger’ in front of her, so caught up in the excitement of seeing someone she had only ever enjoyed being around, that she hadn’t quite processed the entire sentence. 

Whether she was Aunt Donna, Donna Pinciotti, local Point Place teenager she absolutely was meeting for the first time just now or Hot Donna on the radio and, in a few years, MTV, she was always someone Jessie enjoyed seeing and now more than ever. Even wearing that drab uniform that was definitely not what she expected to see her wearing. “Hey, it’s nice to meet you-“

… And then the rest of what he said reached her brain. 

“Too… too… too t-too…” she stammered and trailed off. She heard a record scratch sound inside her brain as she tried to process what she was learning, she had to make sure she didn’t just hallucinate that, “Excuse me… did you say girlfriend?”

Huh… that was… Jessie felt her brow begin to furrow. _‘… Huh.’_

“Uh… yeah,” Donna chuckled, though not from amusement, Jessie assumed by her body language. She crossed her arms, appearing slightly uneasy and defensive at the reaction she had just received from what Eric had said, “Is there a problem with that?”

“Oh, n-no… No, no. It’s just…” Jessie trailed off, not even sure where to go from here. 

She had never known Dad dated Aunt Donna before, that had never once come up for her. They always seemed, to her, to have an almost sibling friendship. Recalling suddenly what Eric had tried to say in the library about him and his girlfriend reminding him of Luke and Leia. YEAH. _THEY ALSO REMINDED HER OF LUKE AND LEIA._ That was, in fact, one of the problems she had processing this revelation.

And for another…

**Author's Note:**

> Okay! First actual attempt at an ongoing story and only second attempt writing! Hm! Let me know what you think if you decide to read it, I'd love some feedback! 
> 
> Hope no one minds the occasional bit of chapter sketches, they help me have fun writing so I'm hoping they do the same for all of you reading!
> 
> Special thanks to MistyMountainHop for talking the writing and art of the JessieVerse content out with me, it's a real motivator to have someone as talented and kind as her help me out and be so supportive of my first foray into the T7S fandom!


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